Quote:I don't know...I don't know if the brain can be (re)trained to process what is read or heard differently...If that was the case, it would seem that any mental disorder would be easily overcome...If AS (which is a form of autism) could be manipulated by retraining the brain, why is it still commonplace in mental disabilities? I would guess there is mental therapy involved in the treatment, but the biggest obstacle would be removing the part of AS that demands that everything be logical to the person who has it...People in general can learn to compensate, but the difference would be that the AS brain is ruled by logic and if the AS brain can find no logic in something, it will disregard what it finds to be illogical...I have no idea if that part of it is reversable or retrainable

 

Nobody can train me to stop thinking everything must make perfect sense. Here is an example: When I lived in Ohio, my younger sister got mad at me for going in her room without permission. I said I went in there to get a cat. She said, "There was no reason to go in my room," after I told her I was getting a cat. I will never understand why she said that because getting a cat obviously is a reason to go in her room. Talking to a counselor helped me understand going in her room is like going into a neighbor's house, but that does not mean I have no reason to get my own cat. He was my cat, not hers, and nothing else mattered.

 

Quote:I would think that only the strongest-willed and most determined of the people who have AS, would have any chance at being able to re-learn the way they first think when they hear or read something and be able to decipher whether it is logical and meant to be taken literally or illogical and meant as sarcasm or some in between.

 

Even if they could not completely overcome it, I would think it could be done at least to a degree where they could recognize that there are certain sentences and phrases, when written or spoken, that are not meant to be taken as either completely literal OR completely illogical, and nothing in between.

 

You are referring to idioms. That is something I learned about in elementary school. I also read a book about them. But I will never be able to figure out why people say, "Knock on wood." Until someone tells me its meaning, I will always think of the literal definition and disregard it.

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